Latino seniors face many health disparities, including disproportionate rates of disability, Alzheimer’s, cancer, and more. Additionally, they may have trouble communicating with healthcare workers due to bias, discrimination, and lack of bilingual and culturally competent staff. A new resource wants to help elderly Latinos get quality healthcare by helping them navigate Medicare. Anhelo is an online and phone service that Spanish speakers can use to better understand their Medicare coverage options and ensure it meets their needs. Resources like Anhelo, along with other policies, can vastly improve the healthcare experience for Latino seniors.
What Problems do Latino Seniors Face in Accessing Healthcare?
Many barriers stand in the way of Latino seniors receiving proper ...
For Maria Hernandez, fighting for health equity hits close to home. When her dad was in the hospital fighting cancer, Hernandez had a realization. “He’s being wheeled into the surgical unit, and he's with me and my mom and my two brothers, and we're all speaking Spanish, wishing him well. And all of a sudden, he puts up his hand and says, ‘Stop, don't speak Spanish, they're going to think I'm stupid, and they're not going to help me.’ And that just took my breath away,” Hernandez said. It made her realize that healthcare organizations must do more to address implicit bias. “Here I was, working on diversity and inclusion issues in major corporations. And I thought, what is healthcare doing about this? And so I started looking into this,” Hernandez ...
Despite being severely impacted economically by the COVID-19 pandemic, low-income, immigrant families often avoided federal assistance programs, according to new data from the Urban Institute’s Well-Being and Basic Needs Survey. “Many immigrant families have suffered significant economic hardships and health impacts during the COVID-19 crisis and have faced barriers to participation in safety net programs or other supports,” according to researchers Hamutal Bernstein, Dulce Gonzalez, and Michael Karpman. Unfortunately, barriers like restrictive eligibility rules for immigrants as well as a fear of deportation or barring from legal residency discourage immigrants from seeking help through federal assistance programs, like food and housing aid. However, with President ...
The Latino community has disproportionately felt the burden of COVID-19. COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths have been higher for Latinos than other groups. “The pandemic has disproportionately hit Latinos throughout the country, who are already at a disadvantage as they are likely to work in front-line jobs and have the highest uninsured rates,” writes Cynthia Silva, according to NBC News. As more Latinos have been hospitalized, healthcare providers have noticed the need for Latino nurses who can provide culturally competent, bilingual services. Unfortunately, less than 6% of nurses are Latino, mostly due to systemic barriers that prevent Latino students from pursuing a career in nursing. Let’s explore the importance of culturally competent healthcare and ...
Police are more likely to stop and search Latinos than white people, even though white people are more likely to possess illegal material, according to data from Texas and California, two states with large Latino populations. “That discrepancy could mean that a lot more innocent Latino people are being subjected to searches than white people are, an invasive and often demeaning process, which can damage trust in police,” according to Houston Public Media. The data comes out a year after the police killing of George Floyd, which reinvigorated Black Lives Matter protests against police brutality and a wave of police reform efforts, like implicit bias trainings. Now reform activists and city officials hope the data can spark more change. “I look forward to our Police ...
We’re seeking a top-notch program coordinator to join our team at Salud America!, our national Latino health equity organization based at the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at UT Health San Antonio. The position will provide day-to-day oversight and coordination of Salud America! and its program goals, activities, deliverables, budget planning, internal and external meetings, partnerships, reporting requirements, and development/sustainability. The program coordination also will contribute to program communication, outreach, evaluation, surveys, and technical assistance for on-the-ground advocates and partners for Salud America! and other IHPR programs and grants. Apply Now!
Details for the Program Coordinator Position
A bachelor’s degree and five years of ...
Latinos widely agree that the immigration system in the United States needs a large overhaul, according to a new survey by PEW Research. “A majority of Latino immigrants and those born in the U.S. share the view that the country’s immigration system needs fixing, and this sentiment extends across all ages and education levels,” according to researchers Jens Manuel Krogstad and Mark Hugo Lopez. While most Latinos agree changes are needed in immigration policy, priorities differ depending on political party and legal status. This survey of Latinos on immigration comes four months into the Biden presidency, which has promised to enact various changes that would help Latino immigrants. These include defunding the U.S. and Mexico border wall, ending family separation at the ...
Over 530 members of Salud America! endorsed our public comment to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in their Request for Information (RFI) on how to advance racial equity and diversity within the biomedical research workforce, as well as advancing research on health inequities. Other organizations like the Association of American Medical Colleges, the Council On Governmental Relations, and Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology also submitted comments. The RFI was open for comment from March 1 to April 23, 2021. At Salud America!, we believe that increasing diversity among research leaders and clinical trial participants will help achieve true health equity, especially for populations disproportionately impacted by health issues and COVID-19, like the ...
As the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines continue to be distributed across the country, we’re getting closer to herd immunity and ending the pandemic. One obstacle on this path is vaccine skepticism. Vaccine skepticism is caused by a variety of sources, such as historical trauma from healthcare mistreatment and misinformation about vaccines that is circulated on social media. Misinformation about vaccines is especially dangerous as it will often target Latino and Black communities, which have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19 and are communities that most need the vaccine. Let’s go over the most common questions about COVID-19 vaccines, who is causing the spread of misinformation, and how to address it and build trust in ...
